Shaun and Kasey stepped closer to the door, awaiting the emcee’s introduction. “Best Man Shane Thorp is unable to attend tonight, home with a brand-new baby! So I introduce you to Interim Best Man, Kasey and Maid of Honor, Shauntelle!”
They stepped forward together into the room to applause, and Kasey raised the hand that held hers captive, spinning her lithely beneath his outstretched arm, and she couldn’t help the laugh that escaped her as she glanced up at him, her dress flowing around their feet. His eyes, those beautiful storm cloud eyes, were gentle as he stared down at her, bringing her in close as he walked them toward their seats.
Her hand still clasped in his, she gasped audibly when he squeezed her fingers gently, then rubbed the back of her hand with his thumb slowly. Thankfully, the emcee’s voice boomedover the speakers at the same time as he said, “And may I present to you, for the first time, Freeman and Jodi Thorp!”
The guests erupted in applause, and Shaun disengaged her hand from Kasey’s to do the same as her sister and new brother-in-law came through the doors, hand in hand, brilliant smiles on both of their faces. Free twirled Jodi under his arm, much the way Kasey had done to her, and when Freeman pulled Jodi back to him, he clasped her around the waist and kissed her to another eruption of cheers.
Kasey held her chair for her to sit, then moved to take his seat directly next to her as Freeman led Jodi to their sweetheart table. She reached for the crystal water glass in front of her as his impossibly hard thigh brushed hers under the table, her hand trembling, making the ice clink in the glass as she brought it to her lips.
The next twenty minutes were a blur. She somehow stumbled through her maid of honor speech, managed to make the guests laugh and even drew a tear or two from her sister and mother. She barely registered Kasey rising to his feet next to her as she sank shakily into her seat. She purposely kept her eyes away from the tree trunks that were Kasey’s thighs encased in the black slacks of his suit, or the way they molded to the curves of his ass. She heard none of his speech, just the low timbre of his voice as he spoke. She was transfixed by the graceful way his hand moved as he spoke, the wide wrist that peeked out from the cuff of his suit, the wide band of his watch glinting in the candlelight on the table in front of them.
As Kasey resumed his seat beside her, the emcee announced dinner as the handsomely dressed wait staff appeared to serve the wedding guests.
“Would you like a drink?” he asked, leaning close to her, and she was intoxicated by his nearness and the scent of his cologne.
“Umm,” she mumbled lamely, staring into his face, her mind a jumbled mess. One corner of his mouth tilted up slightly and she bared her teeth in a snarl.The bastard knew what he was doing and was laughing at her!“I’m fine, thank you.”
“How about another sip of moonshine?” he murmured low, at the same time drawing one finger up the length of her exposed thigh. Her mouth parted and all thought escaped her as goosebumps erupted over every inch of her. The tip of his finger toyed with the flowy edge of her dress where it V’d open high on her thigh. Hidden from view behind the black tablecloth, no one else would know that his fingers were sliding beneath the material to cup the soft flesh of the inside of her thigh. His voice was a tortured groan when he spoke next. “I can’t stay away from you.”
And as she watched as he slowly pulled away from her to face forward once again, Shaun wasn’t so sure she wanted him to.
NINETEEN
Keeping his hands off of Shaun was proving to be impossible. He had no self-control, no will to even try. She called to him like a goddamn siren, and he was powerless against her. He’d promised Freeman to leave her alone until after the wedding… but nothing short of his own death—or Shaun choosing to stab him in the back of the hand with the tines of the fork resting on the black tablecloth—could have stopped him from sliding his palm over the smoothness of that bare thigh.
And when she shifted her leg toward him just a hair, seeking more, he knew he was in far more trouble than he’d realized.
The long, loose braid that her hair was pulled back into fell over her shoulder, tendrils framing her face as she went back to pretending he wasn’t there. She sipped her champagne, ate the delicious meal in front of them, chatted and laughed and drove him damned near crazy.
The lights in the private room dimmed as the waitstaff cleared the dinner plates from in front of the guests, and their attention was directed to the emcee as he called to them as Free led Jodi out to the center of the dance floor. True to the nature of their relationship, they’d chosen a classic 90’s country ballad for their first dance as a married couple. John Michael Montgomery serenaded them to ‘I Can Love You Like That’ as they watched Freeman take his bride into his arms like she’d always belonged there.
Shaun had risen from her seat, making her way around the tables to stand closer to the dance floor, and he watched her as she swayed to the music. Levi stepped up beside her and draped a burly arm around her shoulders, drawing her into his side as he spoke directly to her. Kasey was too far away to hear what was being said, but his heart did something painful in hischest when she reached her arm around her father’s back and hugged tightly. Levi’s hand rubbed down the outside of her bare arm, then reached out his other hand and took her left hand in his, drawing it to his bewhiskered mouth and kissing the bare knuckles there.
Was that why that douchebag hadn’t shown up? Was all not well between Shaun and Tommy, despite her insistence that she was happy? Was that why she didn’t wear her ring?Hatred for the man that had abandoned her when he should have been here with her bloomed fierce and ugly inside his chest. As happy as he was that Tommy Chandlerhadn’tshown up, the cowardice of the man who had this woman’s heart when it should belong tohim… it burned inside his entire being.
Levi turned her in his arms, spinning her gracefully, and when she looked up at her father and bestowed him with that hundred-watt smile, Kasey knew he needed her to gracehimwith that smile. The smile that blinded anyone near her. Her sassy, snarky attitude was maddening, yes, but the heart that beat beneath those breasts was fierce and wild and he’d give anything to be the one to tame it.
As the song came to a close, Kasey watched as Shaun danced lightly with her father on the edge of the light, just far enough in the shadows to not take any attention from the bride and groom in the center of the dance floor. The emcee asked Levi to join Jodi in the center of the dance floor then, and Levi leaned down to press a kiss to his second born daughters’ cheek before ambling out to meet his eldest. Freeman walked to the edge of the polished dance floor and extended his hand to Serenity. The older woman took it with a dazzling smile, though Kasey could tell it wouldn’t be long before tears would be sliding down her cheeks.
Sauntering over to the bar, Kasey ordered two highballs of bourbon, then crossed to where Shaun still stood. Holding oneout to her, he grinned lopsidedly down at her when she glanced up at him. “Truce?”
He loved the skeptical side eye she bestowed upon him, the way those red painted lips pursed in deliberation before finally reaching up and accepting the glass he offered her. They clinked the glasses together lightly, but before she raised it to her lips, she said dryly, “I don’t believe your truce for a second, Kasey Corcoran.”
Fuck if he didn’t love the way his name sounded coming off her lips. He wanted to lean down and kiss her, taste his name on her lips while he did deliciously decadent things to her.
But again, that awful reminder that she wasn’t his, didn’t belong to him no matter how badly he wanted her to, came unbidden to his mind.
“But thank you for the drink,” she continued, giving him a reluctant smile, her dark sapphire eyes sparkling in the low light of the room, surrounded by hundreds of candles. The candlelight caught the tiny crystals pinned into her curls, and he could just imagine running his fingers through her hair to find every last one of them while her head rested against his chest as they lay in bed.
Anger and bitterness at the unfairness of it all, how badly he wanted her when she wasn’t his, how she belonged to someone that clearly didn’t appreciate the absolute fuckinggoddesshe had in his hands… The one woman that he couldn’t get out of his mind couldn’t be his.
Of course the woman he had fallen in love with had to be engaged to someone else.
TWENTY
Shaun could sense the anger as it radiated off of Kasey in furls. His fingers clenched around the crystal glass in his hand, his knuckles turning white. His jaw tightened, the muscles clenching in that sharp jawline that just begged for her tongue to run over it. His shoulders were tense, his mouth pulled into a tight line, where moments ago he’d been using that disarming grin to charm her.
Downing the dark liquor, she reached behind her and set it down on a nearby table before murmuring, “I—” but when those stormy gray-blue eyes sliced over to hers, the words stuck in her throat. She swallowed hard, then tried again. “I need to—”
